One man’s experience of accessing feeling and emotion through movement, image and dialogue

M.A. Thesis, La Trobe University
Date submitted: 2000
Author / Researcher: Jennifer Helmich

Abstract:
This research will describe one man’s experience of accessing feeling and emotion through movement, image and dialogue. Feeling and emotion arise out of our day to day experiencing and informs us of what is important, that we feel threatened or at ease, happy or sad (Heidegger) 1962).  In this research the participant becomes aware of the intentionality of his body, his ‘lived body’ (Merleau-Ponty 1962). He accesses formerly unacknowledged anger and expresses his anger to the person concerned.

The phenomenological method and existential themes of the body in time and space are used to identify the participant’s process of accessing anger. This finds that he differentiates his movement from his environment and transforms restrictive body boundaries, creating more space to express himself. The concept of body boundaries is unclear (Fisher 1986p.330).   In discussion I constrict my understanding of the term “body boundaries” through the explication and interpretation of the experiences that enable the participant to transform restrictive body boundaries. The research suggests that embodiment of our dance movement experience leads to a clearer definition of ‘ self from other ‘, which supports our capacity to form mature emotional connections with others in the world.

Thesis available in hard copy at the La Trobe University Library, Bundoora, Vic.